Sunday, 2 October 2016

Govt mulls penalties for curtailing renewable power generation

Taking serious cognizance of some states curtailing power generation from solar projects, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said his ministry is looking into how mandatory electricity production from renewable sources can be enforced.

"I have come across this issue wherein certain states are resorting to curtailing generation from solar projects and instead buying cheaper power from the exchanges.

"We are finding a solution whereby anybody who does not fulfil the 'must run' status, what can be done to either enforce that or penalise them (states)," Goyal told reporters on the sidelines of an IEEMA event.

Some states including Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have issued directives to curtail power generation from solar projects. Both the states backed down their commitment towards green power sources, claiming that they have already made provisions for it.

Power producers' body Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) had raised concerns that such decisions were affecting the generators. The government has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of power from renewable energy sources, with 100 GW from solar alone. My View:As we know that Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu being a renewable rich state in the country. Curtailing renewable generation can be due to: A) To avoid instability in grid.B) To avoid expensive power.The Govt. should impose stringent penalties, then only states will follow. The real example can be seen from fulfillment of RPO by states, where we can see that some states are still not fulfilling RPO.